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This brought Carbo against him with a superior army, and Metellus could do nothing till the news of Sacriportus frightened Carbo into retreating to Ariminum, that he might secure his communications and get supplies from the rich valley of the Po. Metellus immediately resumed the offensive. He defeated in person one division of Carbo, five of whose cohorts deserted in the battle.
But, as might have been expected, the Athenian cause had prevailed; and Carbo and the two Gracchi, who are the principal orators of the next generation, are praised as masters of an oratory learned, majestic, and harmonious in its character.
IV. II. Tribunate of Gracchus II. II. Legislation II. III. Political Abolition of the Patriciate IV. III. Democratic Agitation under Carbo and Flaccus IV. II. Tribunate of Gracchus It is in great part still extant and known under the erroneous name, which has now been handed down for three hundred years, of the Thorian agrarian law. II. VII. Attempts at Peace II. VII. Attempts at Peace
In this state of anarchy Sulla’s wife and children escaped with difficulty, and Sulla himself was deprived of his command against Mithridates. But Cinna, B.C. 84, was killed in a mutiny, and the command of the revolutionists devolved on Carbo. The situation of Sulla was critical, even at the head of his veteran forces.
Accordingly he attempted to rouse the people of Picenum, who readily listened to his proposals, and paid no attention to those who came from Carbo. A certain Vindius having remarked that Pompeius had just quitted school to start up among them as a popular leader, the people were so infuriated that they forthwith fell on Vindius and killed him.
No effort was made to discover his murderer, though one Caius Papirius Carbo, a tribune, leader of the opposing party, was generally thought to have been the guilty one. The eloquence of young Gracchus proved greater than that of any other citizen, and by it he ingratiated himself with the people to such an extent, that in the year 123 B.C. they elected him one of their tribunes.
The civil war had given fearful evidence of this total revolution in the spirit of the army: six generals in command, Albinus, Cato, Rufus, Flaccus, Cinna, and Gaius Carbo, had fallen during its course by the hands of their soldiers: Sulla alone had hitherto been able to retain the mastery of the dangerous crew, and that only, in fact, by giving the rein to all their wild desires as no Roman general before him had ever done.
But on the news of the battle at Sacriportus, Carbo, anxious about his communications, had retreated to the Flaminian road, with a view to take up his headquarters at the meeting-point of Ariminum, and from that point to hold the passes of the Apennines on the one hand and the valley of the Po on the other.
The position of Flaccus was legally stronger than that of Tiberius Gracchus had been. Had he been well supported by men of influence or by the masses, the senate's judgment might have been set at naught. But the people were cold, Carbo had probably turned away, and Caius Gracchus had gone as quaestor to Sardinia. The senate was emboldened to adopt a firm attitude.
But he stood almost alone Carbo had meanwhile changed his colours and was now a zealous aristocrat, Gaius Gracchus was absent as quaestor in Sardinia and the project was frustrated by the resistance not of the senate merely, but also of the burgesses, who were but little inclined to extend their privileges to still wider circles.
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